The major objective of this study is to investigate the demand for dental care services among low income and near poverty income level families, with special emphasis on the effects of dental care financing on such demand. There have been a number of studies on demand for dental care, but they either do not have detailed dental financing variables or do not have an adequate sample size for low income families. It appears likely that some form of national health insurance will be implemented within the next few years. Because of the cost and resource allocation implications, there should be a considerable interest to study the demand for dental care among the low income and near poverty level families. This study will construct a simultaneous equation model (number of visits, amount of dental expenditures, and dental insurance), using the family as a unit of observation. There are 3,765 families in the National Opinion Research Center 1971 survey data, of which 1,478 are below or near poverty income level. The empirical estimation will be based on both the total sample and the low income family sample alone.